A nationwide UK competition to pen the best modern Christmas cracker gag has seen the country's own elected leader make a starring appearance, after being included in the setup of the winning seasonal side-splitter.
The most hilarious gag for the festive period goes: "Why was Theresa May sacked as nativity manager? She couldn't run a stable government."
If that didn't raise a chuckle, then the second most amusing gag centered around industrial action being taken by an English-based railway company,which wants to do away with staff on train services — "Why don't Southern Rail train guards share advent calendars? They want to open the doors themselves."
The competition to update cracker jokes was organized by UK satellite TV channel Gold, who organised it via Twitter and invited the public to choose their favorites.
And finally, rounding off our Top 10 Christmas cracker jokes are @AnnaKingJackson @delshout1 @MarkJonGregory. Congratulations! (Top 20: https://t.co/jnWlxmB7aY) #GoldCrackers pic.twitter.com/Af22NP7n5A
— Christmas Gold (@goldchannel) December 12, 2017
A panel of judges led by comedy critic Bruce Dessau shortlisted all the entries before putting them to a public vote involving 2,000 British adults.
"In a world that seems to have turned upside down in recent years, there is something wonderfully reassuring about the fact that people have still retained their sense of humor and come up with some inspirted gags for this year's Gold Christmas Crackers competition. The subjects of the jokes that were entered reflects the issues that concern the country today: from Brexit and Donald Trump to Bruce Forsyth and Southern Rail, people have still been able to find the funny side," Dessau said.
Part of the fun of festive cracker jokes is, of course, the groan value they induce and certainly the new gags continue that tradition. The author of the winning joke, Samuel Williams, was naturally laughing heartily after receiving a holiday voucher for £1,500 (US$2,000)
The top ten are as follows:
1. Why was Theresa May sacked as nativity manager? She couldn't run a stable government.
2. Why don't Southern Rail train guards share advent calendars? They want to open the doors themselves.
3. What's the difference between Ryanair and Santa? Santa flies at least once a year.
4. Kim Jong-un will play Santa this year in the South's annual pantomime. He said he fancied a Korea change.
5. Why did Donald Trump continuously decorate the Christmas tree? Because people kept saying "moron" to him.
6. Why was the planned Ryanair TV documentary scrapped? They were unable to air a pilot.
7. Which TV Christmas special is being filmed in Brussels this year? Deal Or No Deal.
8. Theresa May has asked Santa for a home makeover this year. First thing on the list was a new cabinet.
9. What did Bruce Forsyth say when the Christmas pheasant repeated on him? "Good game, good game."
10. Why did Jeremy Corbyn ask people not to eat sprouts on Christmas Day? He wants to give peas a chance."
